Kent

Hey guys,
just doing some swimming and was wondering what everyone does when swimming to train for a tri:

1) push of the wall like normal (however i feel this is almost cheating?)
2) tread water and turn then start again
3) just swim and turn until you start going the other way again

I want to push off the wall cause I feel like thats what everyone does but does it then affect your performance in a tri? Ie. say in the pool you can swim 2km no problem but then jump into the lake and every 25m you cant push off the wall so your exhausted by 1km?

Triguy

Quite frankly, I feel like the most uninterrupted my turns are, the more I'll swim. Doing anything but pushing off the wall would drive me nuts!

Lets face it, if you asked the U.S. Olympic Trials open water competitors what they grew up doing and how they spent +80% of their time training, I'd be they'd say swimming laps and pushing off at each end.

maful

I always do flip turns no matter what. But thats just me.

sirious94

well when you are doing longer swims (like 2000 for time days...ugh) flip turns will help keep your rhythm and thus would be similar to the actual swim. Pushing is not cheating, Michael Phelps does it, Ryan Lochte does it, everybody in the swimming world does it, you should do it too.

Tundra_Man 

I push off the wall, but I don't know how to do kick turns so I'm not getting any time advantage as I have to slow to turn around. As far as endurance, I don't push as hard as I can and then glide 20 feet before starting my stroke. I probably only go 5-7 feet before I start flailing my arms to resume my crawl. If it affects my overall endurance, I'm unware.

brian669

i do a very light push off, just enough to keep me going. if i'm in a circle i do a turn with no push. helps if you're doing a race with a single buoy turnaround.

Gonzo Bob

Yeah, I flip-turn and push/glide off the wall. Yeah, it does give you a bit of rest that you wouldn't get in open water. Just swim more yards Or find a long course pool (50m) to reduce the amount of resting

Fred Matthews

To answer this question, it shouldn't affect you at all if you have trained well. I have no place to open swim train but I have only done open water triathlons. Pool swimming, for me, was no easier than the open water so I felt I was well prepared. In truth, I kind of enjoy the open water swimming better simply because I don't have to worry about the wall...I can just swim and get into rhythym.

Practice the way that feels best to you but I would say that there is no need to worry about pushing off the wall as "cheating"...training is training and in a pool that is what you do.